I have wept bitterly, and my eyes are wet with tears; the wife of Zeus ruined me.MenelaosHera? Why did she want to bring trouble to the two of us?HelenAlas for my terrible fate, the baths and springs, where the goddesses brightened the beauty from which the judgment came.MenelaosRegarding the judgment, Hera made it a cause of these troubles for you?HelenTo take me away from Paris—MenelaosHow? Tell me.HelenTo whom Kypris had promised me.MenelaosO unhappy one!HelenUnhappy, unhappy; and so she brought me to Egypt.MenelaosThen she gave him a phantom instead, as I hear from you.HelenSorrow, sorrow to your house,mother, alas.MenelaosWhat do you mean?HelenMy mother is no more; through shame of my disgraceful marriage she tied a noose around her neck.MenelaosAlas! Is our daughter Hermione alive?HelenAh, my husband! Unmarried, and without children, she mourns myfatal marriage.MenelaosO Paris, who utterly destroyed my whole house, these things ruined you also, and countless bronze-clad Danaans.HelenThe god cast me out, ill-fated and accursed, from my country,from my city, and from you, when I left my home and bed—yet I did not leave them—for a shameful marriage.

Chorus LeaderIf indeed you should find happiness in the future, it would be a match for the past.MessengerMenelaos, give me as well a share of that joy which I understand, but not clearly.MenelaosCome and take part in our talk, old man, you too.MessengerThis woman is not the arbitrator of all the trouble in Troy?MenelaosShe is not; I was tricked by the godsand had in my arms the baneful image of a cloud.MessengerWhat are you saying? We suffered in vain for the sake of a cloud?MenelaosIt was the work of Hera, and the rivalry of the three goddesses.MessengerAnd the one who is truly your wife is this woman here?MenelaosThis is she; trust my word for that.